9 HSE Statistics from 2024/25 Every UK and Global Business Must Act On
Every November, the Health and Safety Executive publishes the numbers that define the state of work in Great Britain. The 2024/25 figures, released in late 2025, tell a story that should change how every employer thinks about health and safety, especially office-based businesses in tech, finance, legal, and professional services who have long assumed the data did not apply to them.
The headline is stark: work-related ill health, driven overwhelmingly by stress and mental health, now dwarfs physical injury as the dominant cause of harm and lost time at work. This is no longer a story about factory floors and falls from height. It is a story about how modern work, including knowledge work, is making people unwell, and about the legal and financial exposure that creates for the businesses employing them.
Below are 9 statistics from the 2024/25 HSE data, what each one means for your business, and how to respond. Every figure here is drawn from the official HSE Summary Statistics for Great Britain 2025 and the HSE press release of 20 November 2025. For businesses operating internationally, the equivalent pressures are tracked by the ILO and EU-OSHA.
1. 1.9 Million Workers Suffered Work-Related Ill Health
An estimated 1.9 million workers in Great Britain suffered from work-related ill health (new or long-standing) in 2024/25, up from 1.7 million the year before. This includes 730,000 new cases, a sharp rise from 609,000. Ill health, not injury, is now the defining health and safety challenge for employers.
What to do: treat ill health with the same rigour as physical safety. A modern Health and Safety Audit should assess health risks (stress, musculoskeletal, display screen) as seriously as it assesses trip hazards and fire exits.
2. 964,000 Workers Reported Work-Related Stress, Depression or Anxiety
This is the number that matters most. An estimated 964,000 workers reported stress, depression or anxiety caused or made worse by work in 2024/25, an increase of 180,000 cases in a single year and a record high. Stress, depression and anxiety now account for 52% of all work-related ill health, more than every other cause combined.
What to do: psychosocial risk is a legal duty, not a wellbeing perk. Under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 it must be assessed like any other risk. Health and Safety Consultants can build psychosocial risk into your assessment programme, aligned with HSE's work-related stress standards.
3. Mental Health Caused 22.1 Million Lost Working Days
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Work-related stress, depression and anxiety alone led to 22.1 million working days lost in 2024/25, making mental health the single largest contributor to work-related absence. For a knowledge business, that is not an abstract statistic, it is delivery slipping, projects stalling, and your best people burning out.
What to do: track stress as a measurable business risk. The international standard for this is ISO 45003:2021 (psychological health and safety at work), which gives a structured framework for identifying and managing psychosocial hazards.
4. 511,000 Workers Had a Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorder
Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) affected an estimated 511,000 workers in 2024/25, representing 27% of all work-related ill health and 7.1 million lost working days. While often associated with manual work, MSDs are rife in office and remote settings too, driven by poor workstation setup and prolonged screen use.
What to do: display screen equipment assessments are a legal requirement under the DSE Regulations 1992, see HSE's MSD and DSE guidance. A health and safety software platform lets every employee, office-based or remote, complete and update a DSE self-assessment with records held centrally.
5. 35.7 Million Days Lost to Ill Health Versus 4.4 Million to Injury
This single comparison reframes the entire debate. Ill health caused 35.7 million lost working days in 2024/25, against 4.4 million from non-fatal injuries. The risk that costs businesses the most is not the dramatic accident, it is the slow accumulation of stress and physical strain.
What to do: rebalance your health and safety effort toward health. If your programme is 90% about slips, trips, and fire and 10% about ill health, the data says you have it backwards. Health and Safety Consultants and Software help you cover both proportionately.
6. £22.9 Billion: The Annual Cost of Workplace Injury and Ill Health
The estimated annual cost of workplace injuries and new cases of work-related ill health reached £22.9 billion (2023/24 reference year). This cost falls on employers, individuals, and the wider economy, through lost output, healthcare, and human cost.
What to do: reframe health and safety spend as risk reduction with a measurable return, not overhead. Preventing a fraction of this cost across your own workforce easily justifies a proportionate compliance programme built on regular Health and Safety Audits.
7. 680,000 Non-Fatal Injuries, Up 12.6% on the Year
Around 680,000 workers sustained a non-fatal injury at work in 2024/25, up from 604,000, an increase of roughly 12.6%. Notably, employer-reported RIDDOR injuries fell slightly (to 59,219), which suggests a reporting gap: workers are being hurt more, but not all of it is reaching the official record.
What to do: make sure your incident reporting is complete and consistent. An empty accident log is a red flag to regulators, insurers, and acquirers alike. A single platform with a built-in RIDDOR decision flow removes the guesswork from what to report and when.
8. 124 Workers Killed in Work-Related Accidents
124 workers were killed in work-related accidents in 2024/25. Behind every figure is a person and a family, and for the employer, the most serious legal consequences in health and safety law, including potential corporate manslaughter charges where failings are gross.
What to do: even low-risk businesses must demonstrate they have identified and controlled foreseeable risks. A named competent person and a current, evidenced risk assessment programme are the baseline defence, required by law and expected by every court.
9. The Pressures Are Global, and the Rules Differ by Country
The HSE data describes Great Britain, but the same forces (overwork, screen time, distributed teams, mental health strain) are reshaping workplaces worldwide. For businesses operating across borders, each country measures and regulates these risks differently: France through the DUERP and psychosocial risk obligations, Germany through the Arbeitsschutzgesetz and DGUV, Spain through the Ley de Prevención de Riesgos Laborales, the Netherlands through the certified RI&E.
What to do: harmonise your response across every country you operate in. International Health and Safety Consultants and Global Health and Safety Consultants maintain one corporate standard with local appendices, aligned with ISO 45001, so the same data-driven approach protects your people in every market.
What the 2024/25 Data Tells Us, in One Sentence
Work-related ill health, and mental health above all, is now the dominant health and safety risk for modern businesses, and the gap between what the data demands and what most office-based employers actually do is widening.
The businesses that respond well are not the ones with the thickest binder of policies. They are the ones that have shifted their health and safety effort to match where the harm actually occurs: stress, musculoskeletal strain, display screen use, and the wellbeing of distributed teams. That shift requires:
- Psychosocial and DSE risk assessed as seriously as physical hazards, by qualified Health and Safety Consultants
- A system of record that works for office and remote staff alike, through Health and Safety Consultants and Software
- Regular, independent Health and Safety Audits that check health risks, not just safety hazards
- A consistent standard across borders, delivered by International Health and Safety Consultants
- A current health and safety policy and training programme that reflect these priorities
For deeper reference on the specific topics above, see Arinite's factsheets library.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most significant finding in the 2024/25 HSE statistics?
The record number of workers reporting work-related stress, depression or anxiety: 964,000, accounting for 52% of all work-related ill health. Mental health is now the single largest cause of work-related absence in Great Britain.
Do these statistics apply to office-based businesses?
Yes, more than ever. Stress, depression, anxiety, musculoskeletal disorders, and display screen issues are the dominant risks in the data, and all are highly relevant to office, hybrid, and remote knowledge work in tech, finance, legal, and professional services.
Is managing work-related stress a legal requirement?
Yes. Under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, employers must assess and manage all significant risks, including psychosocial risk. HSE's Management Standards for work-related stress set out the recognised approach.
How does ill health compare to injury in the data?
Ill health caused 35.7 million lost working days in 2024/25, compared with 4.4 million from non-fatal injuries. Ill health is now by far the larger cause of lost time and harm at work.
What is the best first step for a business responding to this data?
An independent gap assessment. A structured Health and Safety Audit shows where your current programme sits against where the data says the risk actually is, in priority order.
How should international businesses respond?
With a single, consistent standard across all operating countries. Global Health and Safety Consultants align your response with local law in each jurisdiction and with international standards like ISO 45001 and ISO 45003.
Turn the Data into a Position of Strength
The 2024/25 HSE statistics are not just a report. They are a clear instruction to every employer about where harm now happens and where the law, insurers, and investors will increasingly look. The businesses that act on the data, rather than filing it, are the ones that protect their people, their productivity, and their leadership team.
Arinite combines chartered Health and Safety Consultants, purpose-built Health and Safety Consultants and Software, independent Health and Safety Audits, and proven International Health and Safety Consultants capability across 50+ countries and 1,500+ businesses, with 15+ years of experience, 95% client retention, and 100,000+ employees protected.
If you want to know how your business measures up against the latest data, in the UK and internationally, speak to our team. We will show you exactly where you stand, and where to focus first.
Written by
Arinite Health & Safety Consultants
Health & Safety Expert at Arinite
